Bolivia's Evo Morales, voted by the people and blessed by ancient gods

[Felix the Cat]

Bolivia's Evo Morales, voted by the people and blessed by ancient gods (http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/368/16776_Morales.html)

http://english.pravda.ru/img/2006/01/Morales_inauguration.jpg

Ahead of his official inauguration as the new president of Bolivia on Sunday, Morales took part of an ancient ritual where himself an Aymara Indian was blessed by an Aymara priest in a colourful ceremony that gathered 25,000 supporters at the 'gate of the sun' in the pre-Inca ruins of Tiwanaku near Lake Titicaca. There, Morales arrived dressed in a bright red tunic worn only by pre-Inca priests, thanked the Pachamama - Mother Earth - by pouring liquor, coca leaves and food into the soil and received the blessing of the ancient gods that are still popular among indigenous Bolivians.

[Fade the Butcher]

I have heard a lot about how anti-white this guy is.

[Petr]

"Pachamama"... for some reason, that sounds funny. :p


Petr

[Felix the Cat]

How long before they resume human sacrifice I wonder

[Billy Score]

Regardless, one cannot argue that they were an advanced people. Morales is good for the people of Bolivia. On this issue i will not side with any elites in the nation or south american in general, be they white or other.

[Ambrosio Spinola]

The Spanish crown prince went as representative to his inaguration and was visibly uncomfortable when this Injun began to declame "500 years of oppression" and so on all the way to "I´m the new Che Guevara".

They have now made him the "Great Condor" of all Latin American aboriginals. Even some Apache representative was there to gift him with an Eagle Feather as sign of alliance with them.

[Ahknaton]

That party hat he's wearing looks like it came out of a Christmas cracker.

[Lenny]

Note that last year the Catholic Church was instrumental in having the old pro-Western free-market Bolivian government toppled, which opened the door for this man to take power.

Lately the Catholic Church has endorsed him and the Pope has spoken with beaming optimism about him :mad:

[DIETRICH]

In April 2000, Aguas de Tanari, a large multinational corporation, was due to take over the privatised water works in Cochabamba. Water prices were to increase and laws were passed to make it illegal to catch and use rain water. Water would be out of the reach of the majority of residents, 65% of whom live below the poverty line. Mass demonstrations erupted, roads were blocked and running battles where fought with the police and the army until the government gave in. The sell-off was defeated.

Evo Morales, of the Movement to Socialism (MAS), was one of the leaders of this battle. Morales has also led the peasants' struggle against the US-sponsored forced eradication of coca and is a prominent leader of the indigenous Quechua people. Morales won a surprise second place in the June 30 presidential election.

Long before coca was used to make cocaine, the indigenous people of the Andean region, the Aymara and Quechua, chewed coca leaves as a dietary supplement. The consumption of coca leaves and tea is part of daily life for Bolivia's peasants, miners and workers. The US-led “Plan Dignidad” (dignity plan), which seeks to reduce coca production to zero, is seen by them as an attack on the peasant's livelihoods and the indigenous people's way of life.

This US-financed plan involves US military advisers on the ground ordering Bolivian soldiers to attack, kill and displace peasants with US-made weapons. This has led to resistance among the peasants, with several self-defence groups being formed. In 2001, for the first time since coca eradication began, more police and soldiers were killed than peasants.

Morales has publicly declared that he not only supports the peasants' right to self-defence but is participating in the organisation of these popular self-defence groups with the aim of forming a people's army.

Since early 2001, Morales and the MAS have campaigned across Bolivia for the June 30 presidential election. The MAS platform included: the nationalisation of strategic industries; price reductions and a price freeze on household goods; the provision of basic services for all; defence of free public health and education; increased taxes for the rich; an end to corruption; the redistribution of land to those that work it; a new political apparatus; an end to neo-liberal economic policies; and opposition to a “flexible” work force.

In early August, Bolivia's congress will choose either Morales or front-runner Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada of the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement to be the country's new president.

The MAS has only eight of the 27 members of the senate and 27 of the 130 members of the lower house. Morales has said that if the other parties want to vote for him, as many have already said they will, that is fine but he will not be making any deals. He prefers to be in opposition than be in coalition with corrupt parties.

When Green Left Weekly asked Morales earlier this year whether the members of the MAS in parliament will become as corrupt as so many other left candidates in Latin America, he replied that as they have been elected by their local communities as leaders, they will have very organised and angry communities to answer to if they betray.

Morales has declared that if the demands of the MAS supporters are not seriously addressed by the next president and parliament, then they will be won on the streets. However, the MAS wants to exhaust all peaceful methods before resorting to mass action.

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2002/501/501p16b.htm


:rofl:

[Felix the Cat]

Morales picks mostly Indian Cabinet (http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/01/23/morales.ap/index.html)

For first time in Bolivia's 180-year history, most of the ministers are Indians -- including a little-known Aymaran, David Choquehuanca, named as foreign minister.

Morales, 46, also chose a mining union chief to lead the mining ministry, and appointed three women cabinet members.

Some of the ministers are little known even inside Bolivia -- such as Alicia Munoz, the new interior minister, in charge of intelligence, police and the anti-drug fight.

"There's a clear intention to maintain a certain balance between efficiency and legitimacy," said Jimena Costa, professor of political science, "Ceding certain ministries to social leaders is necessary to maintain governability and not have people out on the street immediately making demands."

Accords, pledges and deals

In his inaugural speech Sunday, Morales blamed free market economic prescriptions for failing to ease chronic poverty, and said foreigners had looted Bolivia's national resources since the Spanish conquest.

But he also pledged to respect property rights, and quickly got down to business on Monday, announcing potential agreements with Japan to sell brown sugar and quinoa and potential debt relief from Japan and France.

He also signed accords with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to provide 5,000 scholarships for rural Bolivian students, help get identity cards to rural residents, sell Bolivia 200,000 barrels of diesel and buy 200,000 tons of Bolivian soybeans a year.

On Sunday, Morales thanked Chavez and left-leaning presidents Ricardo Lagos of Chile, Nestor Kirchner of Argentina and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil for coming to the ceremony, calling them his "elder brothers."

While he said he's counting on international support, from everyone from the United States to Cuba, he also vowed that his Movement Toward Socialism party would steer clear of outside influences.

The son of a peasant farmer, Morales rose to power in an often violent struggle against Washington-backed coca eradication programs aimed at controlling the leaf that can be made into cocaine. He hopes to crack down on drug smuggling while promoting legal markets for the plant.

And while saying he plans to rule "with all and for all," Morales stressed he won't seek revenge for the past.

"We have a great opportunity to change Bolivia," he said. "There are great expectations in Bolivia and round the world."